Canada’s culture minister on Wednesday introduced legislation that would ban children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts and require AI chat services to limit the production of harmful content.
The proposed Digital Safety Act makes Canada the latest in a wave of countries cracking down on social media platforms over concerns of harm to children.
“We’ve seen the devastating effects that online harm can have… Children’s safety cannot be an afterthought,” said Culture Minister Marc Miller in a statement announcing the proposal.
The law would ban social media accounts for children under the age of 16, the statement said, adding that there would be a “pathway” for exemptions for companies if they could show “adequate safeguards” for children.
Social media services, including adult content platforms, will also face new requirements under the law to “reduce the risks associated with exposure” to various categories of harmful content and to apply labels to synthetically generated content.
Future regulations will be enforced by the Digital Security Commission, with possible fines for companies that don’t comply up to 3 percent of their global revenue or C$10 million ($7.2 million).
